UNICEF reported that 5,119 children between 6 months and 5 years of age admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in May alone
UNITED NATIONS, June 20 – Over 5,000 children were hospitalized due to acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip in May, which is 50% more than in April and 150% more than in February, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report.
According to data received from the UNICEF-supported nutrition centers across the enclave, “The number of malnourished children in the Gaza Strip is rising at an alarming rate, with 5,119 children between 6 months and 5 years of age admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in May alone.”
This number “represents a nearly 50% increase from the 3,444 children admitted in April 2025 and a 150% increase from February when a ceasefire was in effect and aid was entering the Gaza Strip in significant quantities.”
Of the 5,119 children admitted in May, 636 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, its most lethal form. Such patients require continuous supervised treatment to survive. The number of children in this condition has increased by 146% since February.
In the first five months of 2025, 16,736 children have been admitted for treatment for malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Begbeder said. “Every one of these cases is preventable. The food, water, and nutrition treatments they desperately need are being obstructed from reaching them,” he said, calling on Israel to “urgently allow the large-scale delivery of life-saving aid through all border crossings.”
Begbeder stressed that “concerted action is immediately needed to stop starvation from escalating, malnutrition from rising, disease from spreading, water from running dry,” and prevent child mortality.
On March 18, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported widespread strikes on Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip, thus ending the ceasefire established in January this year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had renewed military operations in Gaza after Hamas rejected the US proposals put forward by mediators and US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The office stated that the Israeli military had resumed strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza to secure the release of hostages and that the army would intensify its campaign in the enclave. The radicals have blamed the United States for the resumption of Israeli aggression.
BY: The Times Union
